Council of Europe launched special procedure against Azerbaijan

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BY INFORMATION SECTION

The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe decided to launch a special procedure against Azerbaijan for alleged failure to comply with the decision of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) of 2014 on the case of ReAl leader Ilgar Mammadov.

For the first time using the rules of this procedure, introduced in 2010, the Committee formally applied to the ECtHR for clarifying the degree of Azerbaijan's compliance with its obligations in this case.

Commenting to BBC on this decision, the permanent representative of Azerbaijan to the ECtHR, Chingiz Asgarov, noted that the decision of the European Court does not contain the wording on 'unconditional release,' indicating that the Azerbaijani government has fulfilled all orders directed in this case.

In the event that the so-called special procedure does not satisfy its initiators, the Council of Europe may take more stringent steps towards Azerbaijan. These can be both restrictions of the country's activities in the Council of Europe, and the complete exclusion of Azerbaijan from this organisation.

Ilgar Mammadov was detained in 2013 for organising and actively participating in the riots in Ismayilli district. In 2014, by a court decision, he was imprisoned for 7 years. In May 2014, the ECtHR stated that violations were committed in the course of the criminal investigation against Ilgar Mammadov.

The official position of Azerbaijan in this matter is that the government of the country has complied with all the ECtHR prescriptions in the case of Ilgar Mammadov, and there are no demands for his unconditional release in this decision. In addition, the head of the Azerbaijani delegation to the PACE, Samad Seyidov, called the decision of the Council of Europe to launch a special procedure the implementation of the policy of double standards towards Azerbaijan.

It should be noted that recently, accusations against the Council of Europe and its secretary-general, Thorbjørn Jagland, have been heard increasingly in Azerbaijan from the highest tribunes. It is noted that if the attacks on the country do not stop, then Azerbaijan can independently decide on its withdrawal from the Council of Europe.